Unleash Your Potential: Explaining your job termination

For job-seekers, getting fired from a previous job may feel like a huge black cloud when entering a job interview.

Lenny Keitel

For job-seekers, getting fired from a previous job may feel like a huge black cloud when entering a job interview.

What job-seekers don't realize is that a firing, like many of the negatives that may emerge during an interview, can be neutralized and turned around. In a job interview, you're in control of explaining the content of your resume and how you can transform a perceived negative in a positive light.

Nearly everyone has been fired at least once; it's commonplace in today's chaotic employment landscape. Quite often, job-seekers blame themselves for being the cause of such an action. An astute interviewer understands that there are countless reasons for a termination. It may be related to a new management team and a resulting change in the corporate culture. In today's corporate game of Chutes and Ladders, uncovering the catalyst for such actions is often quite elusive.

Being fired is an emotional, life-changing event. Before you enter your job interview, you want to be at peace with getting fired from your prior job. It's imperative that you vent all of the frustration and tension you've bottled up since your termination. During the interview, invariably, the question will be raised: "Why are you leaving your current job?"

Avoid pointing fingers at anyone for being fired, which means that you shouldn't blame yourself either. You obviously don't want the job interviewer to question your previous job performance or skills. You simply want the employer to understand what occurred in the simplest terms.

As detailed in an Oct. 23 piece on "CBS Money Watch," you can turn a negative experience into a positive one by summarizing what you gained from the termination. Perhaps you were in the wrong company or position. In all likelihood, you may have been partly responsible, even if you feel it was unjust.

Explain what you have learned from this career anomaly and that you are ready to move on with a bright outlook, eager to apply 100 percent of your efforts to make a substantial contribution to the growth of a new company.

Redirect the spotlight away from your termination and refocus it on what you learned in your prior role, and how it meshes with the requirements of the position you're seeking.

Turning the experience into a "positive" demonstrates that you have moved on from this episode and that you're fully prepared for the next chapter in your career.

When responding to a reference check, most employers will only disclose minimal information regarding a former employee. Such information is typically limited to the duration of employment (start to end). Most companies will not divulge your reason for leaving for fear of potential litigation related to defamation or negligence.

An inquisitive employer performing a background check is familiar with this all-too-common scenario. Consequently, the bottom line for any job-seeker: Although information may not be disclosed, it's always best to be truthful about a termination.

-- Lenny Keitel runs Hudson Valley Resumes (hudsonvalleyresumes.com), a resume writing service in Monroe. He can be reached at info@hudsonvalleyresumes.com, 782-6714 or 914-391-5300.